Businesses should be made the centre of innovations and a development focus of the industry and trade sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a conference in Hanoi on February 3.

Vietnamese coffee businesses are attending Laos’s Bolaven coffee 2023 festival which is underway from February 2-4 in the southern province of Champasak of Laos.

Vietnam’s merchandise trade with Asia reached 475.29 billion USD in 2022, increasing by 9.6% compared to 2021 and accounting for the highest proportion (65.1%) in the country's total import-export value.

Vietnam’s rice export is forecast to continue reaping successes this year as the world's rice prices remain high at least in the short term as global economic and political uncertainties have resulted in a high demand for rice reserves, according to experts.

The scale of the domestic retail market is expected to increase from 142 billion USD at present to 350 billion USD by 2025, contributing 59% of the national GDP, according to the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The State Bank of Vietnam set the daily reference exchange rate at 23,606 VND/USD on February 3, down 2 VND from the previous day.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade plans to set a target of 6% growth in export value this year, considering unpredictable factors that can affect import-export, according to Deputy Minister Do Thang Hai.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC) has announced the commencement of an antidumping and countervailing duty investigation on the import of gas-powered pressure washers from Vietnam, said the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT).

The value of trade via border gates with China in the northern province of Lang Son amounted to 1.7 billion USD in January.

Despite a downturn in the export of aquatic products in the first month of 2023, local exporters remain optimistic that the market will recover from the second quarter of this year, according to the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP).

The on-time performance (OTP) of Vietnamese airlines stood at 95.3% in January, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous month, while the number of flights increased 15.6%, said the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed that maintaining macro-economic stability, controlling inflation, propelling growth and ensuring major balances of the economy continue to be priorities in February and coming months.

Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - the country's economic locomotives - recorded the highest disbursement of public investment capital in January, with nearly 2.7 trillion VND (117 million USD) and more than 1.63 trillion VND, respectively, reported the General Statistics Office.

Vietnam’s real estate sector last year attracted an additional 1.85 billion USD in foreign direct investment (FDI), retaining its second place among industries drawing FDI with combined investment of 4.45 billion USD, accounting for 16.1% of the total FDI poured into the country, according to the Ministry of Construction.

Vietnam must start monitoring and issuing carbon certificates to exporters and retailers in response to the EU's recently passed carbon levy, said industry insiders and policymakers.

Minister of State Greg Hands of the UK Department for International Trade arrived in Hanoi on February 1 for high-level trade talks on how the UK joining of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will boost the economic firepower of the world’s most dynamic trade bloc, according to the British Embassy.

Vietnamese businesses which want to export medicinal herbs to China must submit information about growing areas and packaging establishments to the provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The State Treasury has announced that it plans to raise 400 trillion VND (over 17 billion USD) worth of Government bonds via auctions on the Hanoi Stock Exchange (HNX) this year.

The race of interest rate hikes among commercial banks is showing signs of cooling down as many banks have adjusted down the rate by several percentage points per year after the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday and have set stricter conditions for customers to enjoy the high rates.

The following is a brief review of the day’s events as reported by the Vietnam News Agency.